The Top 100 Retro Reggae Countdown

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The Radio Vault

Archive rooms are usually dusty places - but I've found a place on the net that smells like that cute girl back in school, that you secretly fancied - you even sat next to her in science...

You'll see the link on the right - it's The Radio Vault, a project by Duane Rafferty. He collects radio station memorabilia (stickers, logos, cards, press clippings etc), and has undergone a painstaking exercise of digitising these for us all to see, and reflect upon.

Looking at some of these radio station stickers, takes me back to my childhood and the music I used to hear on these various stations. I even took notice of promotional trailers at the time, and remember some of the corporate voices - how they used to say their catchphrases.. "nobody plays more music than 91FM" etc... reminds me of the imagery, stories, station promotions and the countless hours of recording songs off the radio onto Maxell cassettes :)

It also takes me back - seeing logos of radio stations I used to work for at various stages (even others that don't exist now), and how long ago it was. Very apparent.

The Radio Vault is growing too. If you have anything in your collection (I have a briefcase with lots of radio stickers on it), old promo t-shirts, jerseys etc - take a photo and email him. He would be very grateful :)

One other thing I found interesting, is that it clearly illustrates how - as the bigger networks acquired the smaller stations, the less LOCAL they appear to become!! Sometimes I wonder about the day Doug Gold put pen to paper about the More FM idea, and how he might be feeling now.

Even thinking back - about the govt regulations changes, with the 1989 FM frequencies release, I wonder if radio would be able to survive today if Govt, say, kept it regulated, but continued to release frequencies. How much more diverse and fiercly local would our airwaves be today?

Would we need National Radio, for example?

Transformers 2007

Well, it looks like this movie will officially 'out' me as an 80s nut. The Transformers movie will be a must see for me.

Somethings gotta be said about an original idea, and how the concept could perhaps best be materialized 20 years later thanks to a mix of Spielberg and his digital technologies, compared with Nelson Shin's lame, but geek-must-see 1986 movie about the evil Unicron (roams the galaxy, transforms from a metallic planet into a colossal robot) who offers what turns to be a sour deal to the recently defeated and battered Megatron/Galvatron to destroy the Autobots (the good guys) and his battle with Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime [plot here].

In the 2007 film, we find Sam Witwicky, the descendant of Captain Archibald Witwicky, who learns he is in possession of the map leading to the "Allspark" (the spark or 'souls' of every transformer who has ever lived, or ever will live). This map was burned into a pair of glasses through an encounter with Megatron and Captain Archibald back in the 1800's.

Somehow Bernie Mac is involved and sells a car to Sam - which turns out to be an Autobot (Bumblebee), and Sam comes under the protection of the Autobots as the Decepticons come down to Earth looking for the map.

Great news! Peter Cullen is still the voice of Optimus Prime (and perhaps two more sequels!).

Watch the trailer or click the logo below to visit the official website.

2-4 Grooves

2-4 Grooves are from Ostwestfalen, Germany.

With a growing back library of stuff, its exciting to find they've redone a lot of my favourite retro cuts, including "Easy Lover", "Son Of A Preacher Man" and "Like The Way I Do" (their current release). Although the singing is by Kate Cameron, she sounds pretty damn close to Melissa Etheridge - in fact I'd expect many clubbers not to even notice!

Take a listen, and enjoy.

2-4 Grooves [Myspace][Official German]

2-4 Grooves - The Way I Do